CAST Med High School will add to the pipeline of much-needed doctors and researchers in the San Antonio area.

The high school will open to students across Bexar County in August 2019 at Brooks, a mixed-use development on San Antonio’s south side, beginning with 9th grade. It will ultimately become a full 9-12th grade high school program, with a new grade phased in each year.

Students enrolled in CAST Med will follow one of three pathways:

Biomedical Research

Medical Professionals

Public Health Professionals

The intent of CAST Med High School is to provide high school students a strong foundation, especially in mathematics and science, so that they can be successful once they enroll in college and achieve their medical career aspirations. College coursework will be embedded in classroom curriculum, allowing students to graduate with a high school diploma and a minimum of 30 hours of college coursework.

Students also will have the opportunity to learn from industry partners and gain real-world experience through extracurricular study groups, summer enrichment programs, job shadowing, mentorships, internships, volunteer experiences, and clinical and research opportunities.

The campus will be led by Dr. Eddie Rodriguez, who was selected as CAST Med’s principal and is currently leading the school’s development. Dr. Rodriguez is a 28-year veteran in education, most recently serving as the founding principal of Harlandale ISD’s STEM Early College High School-Alamo Colleges at Palo Alto College.

Student enrollmentCAST Med will be operated as an in-district charter in SAISD, and will be open to students across Bexar County through a lottery system. The application period for the first cohort of ninth graders will begin in November 2018.

The school will open its doors to the first class of 150 ninth graders in the fall of 2019. An incoming ninth grade class will be added each year as each class advances until the campus serves students through 12th grade.

PartnershipsUT Health, with its research expertise and growing focus on population health and health disparities, is an anchor partner for the school helping to imagine how to best prepare medical school aspirants. UT Health San Antonio is the largest health sciences university in South Texas.

The University of Texas at San Antonio and San Antonio College also will play critical roles.

Since all CAST schools are designed as professional development laboratories, teacher residents from the UTSA College of Education and Human Development will work alongside master teachers from CAST Med. In addition, the UTSA College of Sciences’ Department of Biology will assist in planning and in the curriculum design process for CAST Med, as well as help implement summer programs for students.

SAC, with its focus on health careers, will further offer students early access to its medical laboratories and equipment, summer opportunities, and relevant college coursework.

Industry partners include the Bexar County Medical Society, the Children's Hospital of San Antonio and Mission Trail Baptist Hospital. The Brooks business and residential community, where CAST Med is located, also is partnering with the school to address its facility and faculty needs. Additional industry partners are expected to sign on in the coming weeks and months.

Location and facilitiesThe CAST Med campus is located at 2601 Louis Bauer Drive in the Brooks development.

The current facilities will be converted into high school instructional spaces to include a 215-seat auditorium and lab spaces for biology, biotech and engineering, virtual anatomy and computer stations. The facility is currently configured around an open-air courtyard with seating.